Category Archives: Internet

“Baby Blues” disrupted in comics aggregator during transition from King Features to Andrews McMeel

Users of the comics aggregator who are also Comics Kingdom subscribers may have noticed that the comic strip Baby Blues is no longer available as of January 12. Apparently syndication of this strip is moving from King Features (Comics Kingdom) to to Andrews McMeel (Go Comics) as of February 1, and the maintainers of Comics… Read More: “Baby Blues” disrupted in comics aggregator during transition from King… »

Hack of the day: enhancing Eastern Bank deposit notification emails

I have my Eastern Bank account configured to email me notifications about checking deposits. There are three problems with these notifications: (Century Bank’s online banking platform had the same problem. I was hoping things would approve in this area after the acquisition by Eastern Bank, but alas no.) This finally annoyed me enough today that… Read More: Hack of the day: enhancing Eastern Bank deposit notification emails »

Comedy of errors trying to update my bank account info everywhere

My bank was recently acquired. The migration of accounts into the new bank’s infrastructure happened over the weekend, and this morning at 8am, we were officially able to log into the new online banking site. We were told that any direct deposits or debits we had configured with the old bank’s routing number would automatically… Read More: Comedy of errors trying to update my bank account info… »

Hack of the day: using the Google Fi “Messages for Web” app on Linux to open “tel:” links from the browser and elsewhere

Over on Github, I just published some code I wrote to implement support for “tel:” links for Google Fi’s Messages for Web app on Linux. In other words, if you have Google Fi and you use Google’s Messages for Web app on Linux, then once you’ve deployed my solution, if you click on a phone-number… Read More: Hack of the day: using the Google Fi “Messages for… »

Another another bad user experience from Amtrak

Great news, y'all. You get two "Why is @Amtrak service so terrible?" stories in one day! How exciting! (See the last installment at https://twitter.com/jikamens/status/1407335005450342403) #TrainTwitter 1/ I'm taking the Acela home tonight, so I figured hey, what the heck, I'll use one of my upgrade coupons to hop into first class and enjoy unbridled Acela… Read More: Another another bad user experience from Amtrak »

Yet another bad user experience from Amtrak

It's time for my next installment of "Why is @Amtrak service so terrible? It doesn't need to be this way." Check out the last chapter at https://twitter.com/jikamens/status/1217620947781541889. Today's topic: how to make a pre-trip Covid-19 check form as difficult as possible to fill out. #TrainTwitter 1/ I got a notification on my phone that I… Read More: Yet another bad user experience from Amtrak »

Petco violates customer privacy, refuses to confirm appropriate steps were taken to mitigate incident

I recently received a shipment of cat food from Petco which, as far as I know, I had not ordered. I did have a “repeat delivery” order scheduled for that variety of cat food, but usually when Petco is about to send you a repeat delivery order they notify you by email to give you… Read More: Petco violates customer privacy, refuses to confirm appropriate steps were… »

Generic reply to unsolicited vendor sales emails

Dear sales representative who wants me to buy your company’s products, If I’ve emailed you a link to this blog posting, it’s probably because you’ve sent me multiple unsolicited sales emails. Welcome to the club of vendors from whom I’m unlikely to ever purchase anything! No unsolicited sales email I have ever received from a… Read More: Generic reply to unsolicited vendor sales emails »

The arduous saga of applying for a Google Store credit account

I have been trying for three months to open a @AskSynchrony account for the @Google store. It has been an unmitigated disaster every step of the way. It boggles the mind that Google has chosen such a terrible partner for providing this service. For background, I have never been a victim of identity theft, I… Read More: The arduous saga of applying for a Google Store credit… »

Here’s how I pick good passwords

A billion people have written about this before, but I like my approach, so I’m sharing it in case someone else finds it useful. Most of my passwords go into a password manager; those are long and random and generated by the password manager and I don’t care whether they’re easy to type or memorable… Read More: Here’s how I pick good passwords »